In our day, the amount of the pill usage rate continues to increase in line with the increase of the diseases. Some patients need to take more than one pill at different hours of the day. There are some difficulties encountered by the patients for taking and tracking such pills. The regular use of the pills plays an important role in the treatment and cure of the disease process. A lot of factors such as difficulties arising due to daily life, stress, forgetfulness, elderliness prevent the patients from taking their pills on the right time and correct dose. Some patients may even take the same pill twice since they might not remember that they already took their pill. There are several illiterate patients or patients who are confused on which pills to take. Such situations encountered in respect of pill usage extend the treatment process and may lead to the progression of the disease. In particular, it creates a major problem for people with chronic diseases.
The systems that are being used currently, have containers for the pills and have functions which give audio and visual alert in due course in respect of such containers. Unfortunately, these systems cannot inform the users for taking their pills when they are outside. Moreover such systems do not have a function which enables the separation of different types of pills automatically and also such systems do not record any user data and provide reports.
Other pill dispensers require the pills to be removed from the blister pack and to placed into a container. This is not a hygienic and easy use for the user.
The patent application with the publication number US 20140358278 can be given as an example in this respect. This patent application is related to an automatic pill dispenser having a structure which does not include a camera. Counting of the pills is performed with the aid of sensors and timers. A system which provides information via smart watch or smart phone is not available.
The patent application with the publication number US2015090733A1 can also be given as an example in this respect. The problem with this patent application is that the system mentioned allows the user to press the skip button to skip pill usage if the user does not want to take a pill. Therefore, any user to press the skip button by mistake or leaving the usage of the skip button on the users' discretion causes the users not to take their pills regularly and such problems also extend the treatment process. Furthermore, this system does not issue the patient's health status and regular pill usage report and does not allow monitoring and controlling the status of the patient even after months or years by the patients' relatives.
The pill dispensers currently used do not have systems which control and record the pills and dose information with camera. Furthermore, in most systems the pills are individually placed in separate containers by hand and when it is time for any pill to be taken, the light of the container thereof is on and this leads the user to take his pills There are no precautions such as hygienic environment or child lock and reporting is not provided.
A smart pill dispenser is developed in order to eliminate the disadvantages mentioned above and said invention has different technical specifications and operating modes compared to even the closest prior art practices.